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Hello, everyone. I guess I'm still considered new here. I have read many threads, and am finally begining to work on my custom suit. I will also be building one for my wife. (She's not really into it, but is willing to endulge my insanity)

OK I have made a posterboard bucket to test for sizing. IT FITS!

Now, I have a few questions.

What does anyone recommend for a helmet that will survive rigorous usage that will not destroy my minimal budget?

How do I make Acrobat resize my templates to 98% so as to fit my wife?

I think the resizing happens in your printing options; at least that's how it is on my computer.

For helmets you can get a rubies Jango for about $60. They're not much on their own, but a lot of people have modified them the hold their shape well and it's basically a really good budget bucket. You can also get the 2-piece helmet which I think is cheaper, but it requires more work since you'd have to attach the two pieces together and fill in the seam

Thanx, Apollo. I will look into a rubies. My son has a two piece stormtrooper and those things are really cheaply made. Much too thin. I want something strong enough to film action. I would hate for my wife to dive into a roll and have her helmet split in half or spin around and do something equally disastrous Any suggestions on armor material for that kind of abuse?

Depending on the cost of a Rubies, if the 2 piece helmets are cheaper they could be made a lot stronger and better by fiberglassing the inside. After putting the two halves together, of course. You can also coat the poster board one you have with resin and fiberglass and use it. You will have to do a good bit of glass and bondo work though, but it should be fairly strong. I've been working on a Royal Guard helmet based on pepakura. Started with cardstock and then fiberglassed over it. It is very sturdy, but like everything else if dropped too hard it's gonna crack. There are some pepakura templates here for the helmet, gauntlets, and jet packs if you want to try that method. WOF has made PDF templates for most parts too. Since you are asking about Acrobat re-sizing, I assume you already have some of WOF's templates. Great stuff. I used them myself for a number of things. As Apollo said to resize them it should be on the print options.

I want something strong enough to film action. I would hate for my wife to dive into a roll and have her helmet split in half or spin around and do something equally disastrous Any suggestions on armor material for that kind of abuse?

Only 2 mediums would be rubber and metal with rubber being what they used in AoTC for Jango during the fight sequences. You can only push armor so far, no matter how functional it is...stress is going to cause some problems.

Great! I'm stuck in a little place named McComb. If they are anywhere near I'd love to hear from them. (sorry it's taking so long to reply, but my 56k is going slow, and I'm trying to pull up the Mercs sight right now.) What is it all about?

Thank you for the link. I'm actually a struggling artist down here, and did some some drawings that I scanned into my pc to play with colors in paint prog. I'll still check the link in case it is easier to use. BTW, someone asked me for the .jpg's in ladyDoom build. They might be interested in MandoMaker, too.

ok, not much in the way of progress here. I have found some fiberglass at Lowe's that appears to be about 2mm thick. Does anyone know how flexible this would be? Would it be fairly strong, and how hard would it be to glue?

I will be posting design pics as soon as I get them done. I was digging through my archives, and found a concept pic of Boba in very different armor that was white with a little red and gray. I will be using some of the details in this for my costume. If anyone is interested in this concept pic, just let me know where to post it and I will.

Not finished on concept art, but thought I would go ahead and post. Comments welcome, critiques considered, tell me anything. I will listen to anything (even though I may or may not go with other ideas.)

Thanks! The red will be my wife, and I have decided that I am going to put the black stripe on my armor. My wife's will have grey accents. I will post better pics of the designs soon. Also, I would like some advice on the idea of using a sheet of fiberglass approx. 2mm thick to make the helms. If anyone can tell me if this would or would not work, I would greatly appreciate it.

hey bren..looking good..my suggestion before you actually get dirty with the armor..tryta complete your concept designs..at least you'll be working with a solid reference point should anything go wrong..hope to see more pics soon..XD

Thanks for the advice ramikad. I am picking up the fiberglass and going ahead with the helmet. I almost finished with the concept design for my outfit. I am also just about done with my wife's concept design. (She was skeptical at first, but decided that it looked kinda' sexy) The drawing of her costume was laid out using her as a pose.(That was fun). Can't wait for you guys to see them and tell me what you think.

ok everyone, I'm back. The holidays really took their toll on us, and I'm also in the middle of a custody battle for my youngest daughter. Please bear with me.

Anyway, I started with a wall panel of fiberglass from Lowe's. I started tracing out WOF's templates onto the panel and am cutting them out with my dremel. I promise to post pics next time. They will be the upgraded concept pics and progress pics. I now have a digital camera (thanx to Mrs. Claus). Can anyone tell me the size they need to be for viewing without having thumbs like above?

ok, as promised, I finished the concept art for my costume. Here it is, and critiques are welcome.

I have run into some problems on the helm. It seems that the fiberglass that I have bought is a little stronger than I anticipated. It will take quite some time to get it cut out. I can cut the fiberglass with snips just fine, its the sanding it smooth on the edges and getting it flush with the lines that is taking longer than I thought. Oh well, I guess some things are worth waiting for. If it turns out to be too troublesome, I will warn others away from trying this method.

I have run into another problem. I solved the issue of cutting out the bucket pieces and getting them smoothed by using a different tip on my dremel. The problem I have now, I bought some glue that claimed was good for fiberglass, but it isn't holding well. I have had my bucket c-clamped for two days now. Does anyone have any ideas on what will glue to pieces of finished fiberglass together?

ok, I have decided that already formed fiberglass sheets do not work well. After many different forms of adhesive, nothing seems to hold it hard. I decided to use another method (from Old Vart at the Mercs). Bought a bike helmet and some signs to cut up. Also a craft ring, bondo, etc.

I took the "stuffing" out of the helmet, and sanded it a little with heavy grit to rough it up a bit around the holes to make sure bondo would stick well. I couldn't help but smile during this. There's just something about buying something that is perfectly good just so you can mess it up Anyway, I filled the holes with bondo and let it dry, did some rough sanding, and went back over it with more bondo to fill really bad spots. Sanded more, and am about to use filler to take care of small places. Here are a couple of shots of the helmet.

Jeez, anyone know what size to make pics so they don't pull up as thumbs? The first pic was 8" wide. I dropped the two helm pics to 6" wide, and they're still too big. I'll try dropping to 4 next time.